A água no contexto geoeconômico: recurso territorial estratégico traduzido em recurso hídrico para o agronegócio e a consequente geração de conflitos

This paper aims to show that water plays a fundamental role in global geopolitics. It discusses the logic of geoeconomics, which has gradually replaced the logic of classical geopolitics. With the continuous advance of capital, represented by the gradual replacement of the State by private megacorporations, water, a vital asset for all, has been transformed into an economic, in addition to territorial and strategic resource, the water resource. The importance of this reflection lies in the permissiveness and in the naturalization of the concept of “water resources”, which is widely disseminated and conceals its detrimental impact for the world population, especially for the less favoured classes, owing to business practices that induce the progressive interpretation of a right as a priceable economic and commercial resource. The study made it possible to identify that, in a water-rich country like Brazil, in addition to historical conflicts over the access to water there exist other and no less violent conflicts that negatively affect the lives of thousands of families. It exposes the fragility of the population facing the position of private companies that take advantage of the State’s passivity to impose their market-oriented objectives in detriment of human rights.